The Phone Call
by actlikesummer
Summary: Set during 'Dirty Little Secrets', after they have dinner and PJ says they'll be fine to walk to the car alone. Just a one-shot about the relationship between PJ and Brendan.


**So this is set in 'Dirty Little Secrets' (season 1 episode 17) after they have the dinner where they are all supposed to meet Julie. AU after the girls leave.**

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><p>"I have to remember this place." Stephanie said as she, PJ, Kenny, Andy, Mike, and Brendan walked out of the restaurant. "The salad was yummy."<p>

"_The salad was yummy." _Mike mocked her.

She looked at him. "Is there a problem?"

He threw his arm out towards the restaurant. "Yeah, it's all you can eat! You don't waste space with salad and bread. You eat the meat to beat the house!" He slapped his hands together for emphasis.

PJ shook her head. "I should've warned you, Steph. When Mike eats a lot of red meat he gets this crazy belligerent energy about him."

"What in blazes are you talking about?" he shouted at her and Brendan smacked a hand on his friend's back.

"Okay…who's ready for a nightcap?" he asked quickly, trying to quiet his friend.

"I am." Mike shouted again.

"I am." Andy nodded.

PJ looked at Stephanie, who was glaring at Mike, and sighed. "I think Steph and I are gonna opt out. You guys have fun, alright?"

She started to walk away, but Kenny stuck his arm out and stopped her. "Hang on. You guys want some protection? Maybe we should walk them to the car."

Everyone chuckled and PJ looked at him. "It's the gold coast, dude. What's gonna happen? A bag of money falls on our head?" She patted him on the shoulder and turned to the others. "Have a good night guys."

"Night." Steph said quietly.

Mike waved. "Sorry, Poopie."

"Hey if you guys run into any problems, just yell." Andy shouted after them. "We'll…yell something back."

The girls chuckled as they walked off in the direction of Stephanie's car. "Oh my God." PJ laughed. "This was a fun night."

Stephanie nodded. "Yeah, the food was really good. We should come here again soon."

PJ shrugged. "I just think this whole thing is weird."

"What's weird?"

"Kenny." She said.

"Oh, well, Kenny is weird." Stephanie nodded and PJ rolled her eyes.

"No! I meant this whole thing with his girlfriend. I'm just saying, what woman have you ever known whose favorite food is all you can eat, you know?" Stephanie nodded in agreement. "I seriously think Kenny made Julie up."

"Oh of course he did." Stephanie said. "What real woman would ever date Kenny?"

"Aww, come on." PJ laughed.

Suddenly they saw Stephanie's car being loaded on to a trailer, getting ready to be towed. They ran over there to stop the man and soon found out that it was being repossessed. They watched the truck drive off with Stephanie's car, and PJ shook her head.

"Stephanie, this is bad!" She exclaimed.

"Really? You think I don't know that?" She shouted and they looked around. "What are we going to do now?"

PJ sighed. "We could walk. My apartment isn't too far from here, and then you can try to figure this out."

Stephanie groaned. "Fine. Let's go quickly."

...

Brendan, Mike, Kenny, and Andy stared at Bobby's apartment. They had just found out that their friend was super rich and they still couldn't believe it.

"Dude, this is crazy." Brendan said as he drank his beer. "You should have told us!"

Kenny nodded. "Seriously, you shouldn't have tried to hide this from us."

"I know, I just didn't want your opinion of me to change when you found out I was rich." Bobby shrugged and sighed. "I'm sorry."

They all started talking again as Brendan's phone rang. He excused himself to answer it, and walked out.

"So do you have any other secrets that you are hiding from us?" Kenny asked.

Bobby opened his mouth to speak again but sighed instead. "You guys aren't going to let me forget this, are you?"

"No, not really." Mike laughed and looked up at Brendan walked back in. "Dude, who was that?"

Brendan grabbed his coat. "We've gotta go."

Bobby stood. "Dude, what's wrong?"

"That was the hospital." He said quickly. "Something happened to PJ and Stephanie."

...

The drive to the hospital was completely silent. No one wanted to speak, all lost in thought of what had happened to their friends. They wanted answers, and the only way to get them was to hurry up and get to the hospital. Brendan sat in the passenger seat and replayed the phone call in his head. It had been such a good night; he never expected to get a phone call like that.

"_Hello?" He asked, a grin on his face as he thought of the previous conversation._

"_Is this Brendan Dorff?" A female voice asked him._

"_Yes. Yes it is."_

"_This is Nancy. I am calling from Northwestern Memorial." She said carefully._

"_What?" The smirk slid off of his face._

"_We have you down as the emergency contact for Penelope Franklin." His heart stopped beating. "She and came in with a woman named Stephanie Layne about ten minutes ago."_

"_Oh my God. Are they okay? What happened?" He asked quickly, his nerves going insane._

"_We need you to come in." Was all she said and he nodded even though she couldn't see him._

"_I'm on my way." He said immediately and they hung up._

_He stood there for a second, his stomach in knots. "Please let them be okay."_

He snapped out of the memory as they pulled up to the hospital. They all jumped out quickly and ran inside. Brendan went up to the desk, and got the nurse's attention.

"How can I help you?" She asked politely.

"I got a call about my friends that were brought in." He said quickly and he could feel his heart jump into his throat.

She nodded and went to the computer. "What are their names?"

"Stephanie Layne and Penelope Franklin."

She nodded and gave them the floor they were on, and they hurried to the elevator. Once they arrived at the floor, they saw Stephanie waiting for them.

"Steph!" Brendan hugged her. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "For the most part." She had a few bruises and a cut on her face. "I guess PJ was wrong, even the gold coast can be dangerous."

"What happened?" Andy asked quickly.

She sighed. "My car got towed."

"What?" They all asked simultaneously.

She nodded. "We had to walk back to PJ's apartment, but we didn't get far before some guy approached us. He stole my purse and PJ tried to stop him. He turned on her and….well….he got my purse." She looked down.

"Is PJ okay?" Andy asked.

Steph sighed. "I think so. She's still back there, and I think they are keeping her for the night. She's a little worse off because she tried to help me. He kind of went after her. I'm just glad that someone drove past and saw us, otherwise things could have been a lot worse."

No one said anything. They didn't want to think about what would have happened if that person hadn't driven past.

"Penelope Franklin?"

They all looked up and saw a doctor standing at the door, and they rushed forward. "Is she okay?"

"Are you family?" he asked.

Andy stepped forward, next to Brendan. "I'm her brother. He's her contact."

He nodded. "She'll be fine. I'm sure Miss Layne filled you in on what happened. Penelope got it a little worse, so she has a few more bruises, and a concussion, but she will be fine. We are keeping her overnight, but you can bring her home in the morning."

"Can we see her?" Bobby asked.

He sighed. "Well I wasn't going to allow it until tomorrow, because she needs rest, but she is asking for someone. So I guess only him until the morning."

"Who is she asking for?" Steph asked.

"Is one of you…Brendan?"

Brendan nodded. "Me."

The doctor turned to the rest of them. "Honestly, she'll be fine. I just want to make sure she is okay because of her concussion. Go home and get some sleep, and I am releasing her tomorrow."

Brendan waved at his friends, before following the doctor to her room. When he entered, she smiled at him. "Brendo."

He walked to her and gently hugged her. "Are you okay?"

She shrugged and winced. He watched her and sat down in the chair beside her bed. "Yeah, I think so. You know, they have me on the good stuff, so I am not really feeling it right now." She had a small smile on her face, trying to reassure him.

He nodded and a moment later, she caught him staring at her. "Hey Bren, you okay?"

He sighed. "I never want to get a phone call like that, again." He squeezed her hand and she yawned. "Why don't you get some sleep?"

It took a bit, but he finally convinced her to sleep and once she was out he sat back in his chair. In their entire friendship, he'd never been so freaked out by a phone call. He had known that he was her emergency contact, but he never really expected to get a call like the one he had gotten that night.

Around four, he woke up in the chair to the sound of talking. He looked up and saw PJ moving around, still asleep. She looked like she was scared, and trying to get away from something. He leaned forward, and shook her. "Hey Peej, you're okay."

She slightly woke up and looked at him. "Brendan?"

He sighed and slid in next to her, and she leaned against his chest. "Shh, it's okay. Go back to sleep."

As she did just that, he relaxed a little, holding her in his arms. She was his best friend, and always would be. He had seen all of her most emotional times, but this one was new for him. He knew her so well, and yet to see her so vulnerable was killing him. He was glad they still lived together; he'd be able to make sure she was okay at home without her trying to put on her tough façade. He looked down at her, her head on his chest, and took a deep breath.

"You're going to be okay. I promise."

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><p><strong>I hope you liked this one-shot. I love the friendship between PJ and Brendan. It gives me hope that I might find my best friendbest guy friend during my college years.**


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